Inspired

The next day in Lyon had a totally different feel about it.

The early morning air smelt sweet and fresh after a heavy down pour over night.

Although the ground was wet and the trees still hung heavy with water clinging to their leaves, the sun peeked from behind some clouds; promising a fresh new day. Lyon delivered a truly inspirational day for me.

 To my delight and surprise, when I stepped out of the hotel, I was greeted with a Sunday morning market. The stall owners were still setting up. Their cheerful, loud banter as they banged and clanged with apparatus to set up their displays set the scene. I chatted with a few stall owners. For some reason they knew instantly that I was different. (ha ha ha) A lot of them thought I was either german or english. Anyway, I took the opportunity to converse in french. I did Ok, but I know that I have still got a long way to go to be able to express myself with fluency. A couple of stall owners knew of New Zealand. In my travels, many native french say that someone they know has visited New Zealand and that they liked it very much. We seem to have a positive reputation. That's good.

Anyway, I took the opportunity to take another shot of the selection of mushrooms.

I bought a good quality leather pouch to carry my money close to my chest. The price was lowered from 12 euros to 8 euros. I walked away satisfied.

For some reason I am attracted to the enormous raspberries that are sold everywhere. I indulged in purchasing and eating a whole punnet. Surely this cannot be called gluttony. Raspberries, after all, are for good HEALTH!

I bought one slice of ham. It cost 6 euros!!!!! What the …….? I made this thick, large piece of ham last two meals. I was ripped off there!!!!

So, further along was the animal department. There were a large number of stalls with puppies fro sale. They were not cheap. They certainly received a lot of attention from the passersby.

I took a photo of this cute little piglet.  I resisted the insistent owner to donate to his charity.

Next on the agenda was window shopping. A most affordable pastime, nest-ce pas?

I LOVED this Tin Tin retro display.

This shop window display made me think that I could make a cool display of my sunglass collection back home, chez moi.

I quite liked this artistic design. It looks so alien-like, or like a map, or an underwater bacterial creature, or a logo for a company. My imagination ran wild.

(Gee, I think my photo taking has become somewhat incomprehensible.)

I loved the creative genius behind this cool necklace. 

These boots really got me into a frenzy. So many colours and interesting textures.

Cool cat shoes.

Mosaic art. Kev loves mosaics. I bet he would like this shop.

 OOOh! This colourful portrait revved up my desire to do a self portrait. LOVE IT!

And this little steampunk fellow made my heart flutter.

The lace in this shop window sung to me of older times when lace making by hand was a common art form.

These little puppets are loaded with personality.

Unfortunately, a stalker man brushed past my shoulder and I realised that he had been stalking me as I gazed in the shop windows. Luckily he didn't make a profit.

Despite my brush with a low-life, I felt quite uplifted with viewing the inspirational shop windows in Lyon.